


Animal of Prey

by forensicfairy



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety Disorder, Character Death, Eventual Romance, Gay Male Character, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Mental Instability, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:42:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27544033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forensicfairy/pseuds/forensicfairy
Summary: Cyan gazed out into the dark void of space, his heart spasming anxiously. It wasn’t as if anything bad had happened, but he was still...skittish. Compared to his counterparts, the pastel crewmate wasn’t particularly brave. In fact, he was quite the opposite. Jumping at the slightest noise, struggling to make eye contact— that was an everyday thing for Cyan. Thank goodness for the reflective visors they all wore. The helmets broke up intimacy quite nicely. They were something to hide behind...or something to fear. Like a defenseless rabbit, Cyan was an animal of prey.
Kudos: 16





	1. The Rabbit

Cyan gazed out into the dark void of space, his heart spasming anxiously. It wasn’t as if anything bad had happened, but he was still...skittish. Compared to his counterparts, the pastel crewmate wasn’t particularly brave. In fact, he was quite the opposite. Jumping at the slightest noise, struggling to make eye contact— that was an everyday thing for Cyan. Thank goodness for the reflective visors they all wore. The helmets broke up intimacy quite nicely. They were something to hide behind...or something to fear. Like a defenseless rabbit, Cyan was an animal of prey. 

...But being a speedy rabbit had its advantages, didn’t it? Concealing injury or sickness, for one. And sensing danger  _ had _ to be an invaluable skill, especially here on the Skeld, right? Their mission was far from over, and Cyan knew that something awful was in store for them all. He couldn’t quite put his gloved finger on why, but these missions seldom were completed without some sort of horrific occurrence preceding it. 

The war had resulted in infiltration, in espionage, and, of course, in murder. Cyan’s mission wasn’t the first, nor would it be the last. An alarming percentage of these voyages resulted in the death of at least one of the crewmates, if not all of them, save for an impostor that had done the rest of them in. Admittedly, all of this seemed so pointless, especially in the midst of glittering galaxies and a fabric of blackness that cascaded over their existence. What was the point in war, in controlling others? Cyan knew how trivial all of this was, but that didn’t stop him from being afraid. 

Turning away from the window, he began making his way back to the cafeteria. Cyan needed Purple to pour her thoughts into his brain, neutralizing the acidic bubbling of unpleasant thoughts. The  _ clunk  _ of his boots echoed dully against the cold metallic floor. Rabbits may have been familiar with moorland and grassy fields, but this industrialized capsule was a far cry from anything naturalistic. The Skeld was horribly synthetic, its hallways narrow and hauntingly ominous. 

_ Is it really all that bad?  _ Cyan thought to himself.  _ The others don’t seem to hate it as much as I do. Maybe it’s just me.  _

Suddenly, the lights in the hallway began to flicker. Cyan became aware of a strange, suffocating presence in the air around him. He quickened his pace, jerking his head over his shoulder to make sure nobody had been following him. 

The hallway remained empty. Sighing with relief, Cyan turned back around to continue forward...only to gasp in terror as a yellowy green figure darted out from an adjacent hallway. 

“Lime!” Cyan exhaled tensely, failing miserably to conceal the fear in his voice. “You scared me.” 

Despite having his face hidden, it was clear by his tone that Lime had rolled his eyes. “Why are you so scared all the time?” he said, putting one hand on his hip. “Did you think I was an  _ impostor?  _ Jeez, Cyan, you really are pathetic.” 

Cyan did his best to ignore the sharp pang in his chest caused by Lime’s words. Everyone knew that he was a sniveling weakling who was  _ pathetic.  _ Lime was brutally honest, but even so, the others probably had similar thoughts. 

“What were you doing here, then?” Cyan asked, still keeping a relative distance between himself and Lime. “It’s almost dinner time. I assumed everyone would be in the cafeteria.” 

Lime snorted. “It may have escaped your notice, but the lights were about to go out. I fixed them just now. Besides, I’ve been doing tasks all day— something that  _ you  _ probably know nothing about. I haven’t seen you do  _ anything.  _ Hell, maybe you’re the impostor!” 

“No, no I’m not!” Cyan said, suddenly afraid all over again. “I take forever to do tasks, I know, but I’m not the imp—“ 

His words were cut off by his crewmate’s cruel laughter. “Oh  _ please,  _ Cyan,” Lime chuckled. “I  _ know  _ you’re not the impostor. You don’t even have a backbone, let alone the ability to actually kill someone.” 

Lime was mean and immature, but Cyan took comfort in one thing: he was fairly certain that Lime was truly a crewmate and not some demonic infiltrator in disguise. There was something very genuine about Lime, and it was probably in the way he talked. He was an honest, open book. Cyan couldn’t picture the impostor acting in such a manner. Purple, though the polar opposite of Lime in her kindness and gentleness, couldn’t possibly be the impostor either. 

So that left...Blue, Brown, Yellow, White, Red, Black, and Pink. 

_ But who could it be?  _ Cyan’s mind echoed dizzily. 

Blue was the wise one of the bunch. He didn’t speak much, but Cyan always felt comfortable in his presence. Blue was a voice of rationale amidst the chaos of space and anxiety of murderers. He seemed to frequently know what course of action to take next. Blue was methodical and intelligent. 

Brown was different. He was awkward and antisocial. Cyan had made a mental note to never spend any time alone with him. Although Cyan couldn’t say for sure that he was an impostor, he was able to feel the energies of people quite distinctly, and Brown’s was a little...off. 

Yellow was bubbly and loud and a little ditzy. She was friends with White, and the two were often seen together around the Skeld. Cyan couldn’t quite understand why Yellow was so drawn to White, especially since they were not very similar. Maybe it was just because they were girls.

Pink was smart, but not as smart as Blue. She often mapped out the day’s plans. Her orders to the crewmates were overseen by Black as well. The two of them were like the leaders of the crew. Pink, while seemingly sociable, had a tinge of inflexibility to her. Nobody had ever objected to her orders, but Cyan knew that things would most likely get ugly if that happened. When Pink smiled, it was a forced, insincere smile. To put it simply, like Brown, Cyan didn’t trust her. 

White was  _ gorgeous.  _ She was everything that Cyan  _ wasn’t,  _ at least everything that he perceived himself to be. Pure and breezy, she flirted with Black pretty often. Cyan hadn’t made any more observations of her besides the fact that she was flawless. 

Red was a solitary being, although he sometimes could be seen with Lime. The two weren’t friends, but it was wise to walk in pairs during an era like this. Cyan didn’t detect anything dishonest about him. Red was just...sort of there. 

And then there was Black. The true leader of them all. Black, who planned with Pink and flirted with White. Black, who was strong and charismatic, even when he wasn’t trying (which he never did try, to be honest). 

Black, who had just begun sitting at Cyan’s table at dinner. But of course he never took his eyes off of White. Purple and Yellow were there too, giggling amongst themselves. Despite the balance of varying personalities, Cyan still felt unnoticed. He felt like he didn’t  _ belong,  _ like he was the impostor himself.

_ Ha! Me fitting in less with the crew than the actual impostor,  _ he thought.  _ How pathetic.  _

Lime entered the cafeteria before him, making his way over to a table where Brown, Red, and Blue sat. Pink was presumably off in navigation, doing whatever she did at this time. Cyan turned towards his own table. 

Black was already there, chatting with a vivacious White. Purple and Yellow joked amongst themselves quietly. And then, almost as if she sensed his presence, Purple looked over to him. 

“Cyan!” she said brightly, beckoning him over to the table. “I had begun to worry about you.” 


	2. The Departure

_ Before... _

Cyan looked toward the descending ramp, his vision blurry. Lime was already making his way up the metallic slant, and several yards behind him was Purple. 

“I- I don’t  _ want  _ to go,” Cyan said tearily, almost to no one at all.

Purple turned. “Come,” she said, extending her hand out to him. Her bronze skin reflected against the light of the early morning sun, and a violet helmet was hanging off her belt. Purple’s raven hair appeared to be almost purple itself. 

Cyan reluctantly took it, sliding his light blue helmet over his head.

_ How embarrassing,  _ he thought as Lime turned around to scowl at him.  _ Everyone seeing me cry. I’m twenty-years-old, for Polus sake! _

He became aware of Black and Pink behind him, the final two boarding the ship. Out of everyone that he had met in training, Cyan couldn’t remember ever encountering them. It has been a whirlwind of a year, anyway. 

Black’s dark hair was wet and messy from the showers they had all taken no less than fifteen minutes ago. Like Purple, his tanned skin radiated in the light. Cyan shivered, though he wasn’t cold. His fair complexion was still red and blotchy from the heat of the shower.

Conversely, Pink’s pale skin looked even and spotless. She had somehow tamed her mane of golden hair in the short time that they had before departure. 

Cyan couldn’t wrap his mind around why  _ he _ was chosen, out of everyone in training, to complete this next mission— or at least  _ attempt  _ to complete it. Lime, while a little sour, was a fast and efficient worker. Purple was practical and emotionally intelligent. But  _ him?  _ It just didn’t make sense. 

Would they ever even return home? It was difficult to say. Some of the sergeants at the base were survivors of missions that came and went. They barked orders at the trainees, but seldom revealed the intimate details of their own journeys. Cyan knew that quite a few of them had seen terrible things. It was visible in their eyes— a glassy, whitish look that never went away. 

Soon, the desert where they had spent the last year would just be another memory, until when, or  _ if  _ they ever returned. At least that was  _ one  _ truth that Cyan could readily accept. Deserts weren’t a good place for rabbits, save for jackrabbits, he supposed. Hot, lifeless, and nowhere to hide from predators. 

_ As if space will be any different,  _ he scolded himself.  _ It’ll be even more devoid of life than the desert.  _

All throughout training, Cyan kept his eyes on Purple, doing his best to imitate her every move. Wasn’t imitation something that an impostor was supposed to do, not a crewmate like himself? What if the others suspected him of being someone he wasn’t? Surely Purple would stick up for him if he were suspected, and maybe Lime, too? 

The war had been going on for far too long. Something in Cyan sensed that it would be over soon, but whether or not he’d be alive to see that was obviously impossible to say. How unfortunate it would be if this just so happened to be the last mission, and they failed. That would be the worst of luck.

_ The very worst,  _ Cyan thought, unable to contain his anxiety. It was as if his mind always launched right to the worst, most devastating thing. Purple dead, the impostor closing in on him, the next victim. Or even worse, being ejected into cold, lifeless space by his own crew…

Or perhaps everything would work out perfectly. Maybe someday in the near future, he would be rushing back into his mother’s arms, his family once more intact. They would sit together at the dinner table as if nothing had ever happened. His sister would complain about eating broccoli before trying to discreetly feed it to the dog. His father would laugh, his mom would yell, and Cyan would just take it all in, grateful for every aspect of it. Even if it was mundane and boring. Mundane meant normal, and normalcy was something that Cyan craved now more than ever before. But he wasn’t so sure that could possibly become a reality. After all, he didn’t know if his family were even alive at that point. His sister hadn’t responded to his last letter, and he had sent that over a month ago. 

Everything was black and white. Either the lightest, purest good, or the worst, most formidable bad. But Cyan could hardly help himself. It was the way his mind was wired. It was what kept him safe. 

_ At least I know that I think in extremes,  _ he told himself.

_ Maybe that’s the first step to seeing the grays...if it even matters at this point.  _

The door to the cavern shut. 

In the next moment, Cyan felt a tremendous rumbling.

_ We’re going,  _ he thought.  _ Leaving this planet behind… _

Brown stared at the floor, while Blue rested his head in one hand. Red stared blankly into space, his visor hiding whatever expression was on his face. White had her legs crossed and was squeezed up next to a stoic Yellow. Lime was to Cyan’s left, and Purple was to his right. Pink and Black took their seats last. 

  
  
  


**THERE ARE TWO IMPOSTORS AMONG US.**

  
  



End file.
